Barbie’s makeup artists embrace natural beauty, reject plastic look

The film “Barbie,” directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie, has exceeded all expectations, and now the talented team responsible for the captivating styling of the characters is shedding light on the process of finalizing their looks.

Ivana Primorac, one of the key members of the styling team, shared insights with E! News about their initial considerations, saying we, “thought, ‘Should they have plastic seams? Should they have plastic skin, plastic hair?’ We didn’t like all of those things in the end because Barbies are beautiful in every child’s mind. So, once we created that fake image it wasn’t beautiful.”

Instead, the team focused on making Barbie and Ken distinctive and true to themselves. Ivana explained, “What’s most beautiful, is each person being the best they can be. To make them believable, relatable and into dolls, every single Ken and Barbie had to be the best version of themselves. Everyone had to have the best skin that suits them, everyone had to have the hair color that suits them.”

Although the team avoided giving the characters a completely plastic appearance, they did incorporate doll-like elements. Every minute detail, from elbows to ears and even heels, received meticulous attention to achieve an almost airbrushed look.

“There’s a high finish to everything,” Ivana emphasized, highlighting the need for more voluminous hair and radiant skin.

Creating the perfect Barbie look proved to be quite challenging for the makeup artist. “It was pretty difficult to cheat the makeup. I wanted her skin to look fresh at all times,” she admitted.

Nevertheless, the team had a lot of fun experimenting with different cheek and lip colors. Ivana revealed, “Margot would choose her lipstick and blush according to what costume she wore. We had a little shop set up for her with 50 shades of red and pink, and she could choose whichever one was best for that outfit.”

Primorac expressed her belief that beauty is at the core of Barbie’s essence, but she also recognized the film’s clever approach in exploring other themes. ” Ultimately, the film is about so many other things—individuality, our beauty as people, how it can be celebrated in every way,” she concluded.